A Night With the Rough Rhinoes
by Castoro Chiaro
Summary: The Rough Rhinoes.  Fierce trackers.  Capable fighters.  Talented singers.


This just sort of spawned from watching an AMV about the Rough Rhinoes. I'm waiting for my mom to arrive (she's coming to pick me and my brothers up and take us back home...it's a ten hour drive Dx), so this is just something to pass the time.

I gave some of the Rough Rhinoes names, because to my knowledge they don't have any. The Yu-Yan Archer is named Shen, the guy with the chain is Byoh, and the armored man is Aiguo. And about 66.67 of those are REAL Chinese names!

**Disclaimah!**: Avatar. Not mine. Humorfail D:

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_A Night with the Rough Rhinoes_

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Sunset was nearing its end, and black already had overtaken most of the sky, leaving only a small hint of red at the edge of the horizon. This was noted by Colonel Monke, the leader rather ecclectic mix of travellers, known as the Rough Rhinoes, as he jerked on the reigns, easing his beast into a trot, then stilling completely. His gang followed in suit, no questions asked. Whenever Colonel Monke made a decision, you darn well had better follow it or risk losing your mount for a day; that was the way it was with the Rough Rhinoes.

"We should stop to make camp," he declared after surveying the night sky for a brief moment. With a curt nod from each member of the team, they all dismounted and began setting about to prepare the campsite neccisary to support the lot of them. Grasses were gathered for the steeds, wood was collected and quickly ignited into a sizable fire, dinner was prepared, and tents errected. What was once a rather droll clearing quickly became a orderly and well-managed campsite. Many things ended up that way when taken into a Fire Nation dezien's hands; it was simply in their nature to adhere to strick conduct and code.

The group assembled about their fire, and almost immediately the rather orderly site became alive with the sounds of their conversation. Byoh and Shen were caught in a heated debate about who'd come closer to bringing old General Iroh down, a clash which was obviously headed in no real direction anytime soon:

"He _barely _rolled out of the way of my burning arrows!"

"Your aim was just as shoddy as always! He scarcely saved himself from the full blow of my ball-and-chain."

"Hah! Your swinging arm is laughably weak. Even an old, injured man could knock it aside like a pebble."

Monke and Katche were setting a path for the next days journey. Having lost the trail of the old general and his nephew in the Tze Wong Desert, they'd set their sights on a more profitable quarry: an old Fire Nation runaway, known as Jeong Jeong the Deserter. His last known whereabouts were somewhere in the vast Fire Nation jungle, before alledgedly crossing the ocean on a fishing vessle and hiding in a small fishing village on the Earth Kingdom coast. The trip there meant doing almost a complete 180 and since it was more than likely he'd be on the move rather quickly, the two Rough Rhinoes were trying to chart the quickest route back.

It was rather a tense air, but life on the road never seemed to be gentle on the group of bounty hunters.

Of course, despite their tensions, not one missed the clear sound of a hand strumming across a sitar. Brandishing his, quite possibly, most deadly weapon, Aiguo began to strum delicate notes on his beloved (and well travelled) instrument. The sight of the rather heavily armored man stooping over his delicate sitar was not unusual to the band; in fact, it was a welcomed sight. Without instruction, the group quickly unshealthed their deadly arsonal: drums of all sorts, a xylaphone, and of course, Monke's dramatic barotone accompanied by Shen's lilting falsetto.

Their music was probably the most akin thing they had to their element: wild, unpredictable, yet enticing. It was an art of freedom they shared with those still willing to remember the real identity of the Fire Nation, lost to the glamor of war and honor: a culture devoted to the industrial arts, the arts of sculpting and architechual design. A nation who possessed the most beautiful, untamable style of music that was still shared by those willing to lift their voice.

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_"Colonel Monke and the Rough Rhinoes are legendary. Each one is a different kind of weapon specialist. They are also a very capable singing group."_

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End file.
